History professor Jesse Spohnholz will discuss refugee crises associated with Europeans’ discovery of the Americas at a talk today at 5 p.m. in CUE 203.
He will describe refugees who fled from Europe, including English Puritans, French Huguenots, Jews, and Muslims. However, he argues that we find far more significant refugee crises among people in the African diaspora escaping slavery and displaced indigenous Americans fleeing war, enslavement and dislocations as a result of European colonialism. This talk is part of the year-long series of events programmed to complement use of the 2019-20 Common Reading book, Refuge: Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World.